CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND: Skylar Astin to Play a ‘Reimagined’ Greg in the Final Season

Skylar Astin is playing a reimagined version of Greg in CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND’s final season, executive producer Aline Brosh McKenna revealed. (The CW president Mark Pedowitz originally announced Astin’s casting, but sans context.)

Santino Fontana portrayed the character for the first couple of seasons of The CW series—he left in the fourth episode of season 2—but “this is a reimagining of the story,” McKenna said.

Santino Fontana as Greg. Credit: Lisa Rose/The CW

Per McKenna, the plan was always for Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) and Greg’s romance to end where it did, but the intention was for Greg to stick around. Instead, Fontana left the show and they had to rush his arc.

Due to Fontana’s exit, when they thought about bringing the character back for season 4, the intention was always to recast. “Because when he decided the show didn’t work for his schedule…we felt like that portion of it had been resolved,” McKenna said. However, “we reached out to Santino to let him know we were doing that.”

“[Fontana] left the show to do wonderful things,” Bloom said. “But with an actor leaving unexpectedly…we have this really unique opportunity to bring back this mythic [character] and look at it in a different way.”

The recasting will also allow for the show to play with how the characters see each other—and show how different Rebecca is than when Greg left.

But that’s not the only news: Bloom will direct her first episode, the penultimate episode of the series. (McKenna will be directing the finale.)